Ta da! Does it suddenly feel like December again? Because that’s when all of this was supposed to be finished. Here’s the floor plan:
Let’s head down the stairs to take a look around.
And now a before:
And after:
After:
That’s as good as it gets for empty basement ‘before and after’ photos, because once we reached this stage we started moving in all of our stuff. Witness, we couldn’t even wait at this point to start filling up the storage area.
The play space used to look like this:
Now it’s a play room, and it looks like this:
And of course, we have the bathroom and laundry room sneak peeks you’ve already seen:
Our house feels so much bigger now. I think we added about 600 sq. ft. of living space to our existing 1400. Now it’s on to the fun part: decorating it!
139 comments
JP Kim
Hi,
May I ask what’s on your basement floor. I have a basement space where my husband wants to build a mini gym for himself, and have been contemplating on what to use for flooring. Any feedback?
Home Decoration Items
How are you clever to make all those grand windows? (I’m guess that the ramparts were underground before…is that right?)
Gorgeous!
Christi
Hey Nicole,
Your basement is amazing! Just curious what size ceilings you have. Please let me know if you have time :)
Thanks!
jo
shocking* sorry:)
jo
Oh my God..amazing job you did. Schocing how the place is changed now.
Jennifer Baum
How were you able to make all those great windows? (I’m guessing that the walls were underground before…is that right?)
Gorgeous!
twobrunettes
Looks incredible. I adore how perfect everything turned out. Love the green.
Jenna
Beautiful basement! I was curious, how did you seal your floors to make sure the paint doesn’t peel? Also what did you use to prime the floor?
thanks!
Rachel
Nice!! Love the green floors. That’s my favorite shade of green.
CourtneyOutLoud
Love the painted floors and am super excited to see what your creative mind comes up with!
Mia Charro
WOWWW!!! It´s incredible! How did you do such an amazing change? Congratulations!
laura @ theshorehouse
I can’t believe you did this with a baby and baby-on-the-way/here! :-) We’re finishing up an attic reno that’s taking fooorrrrreeevvver. And the only baby in this house is a four-legged mutt. Congratulations on an amazing reno. And isn’t it awesome how much room you add to your house? Makes it worth the work.
A Charmed Life
Wow, your basement looks great! Enjoy the fruits of your labour :) Maja x
Cole
Looks fantastic! I love the white and green together, so calming and modern…have fun decorating! I know I would! :)
modern chemistry
i love your green floors! this gives me so much inspiration, because our basement looks an awful lot like your “before” pictures. :) way to go on making your space useful and beautiful.
Elaine
I am so jealous of your beautiful green floor and stairs. Is that concrete? What brand of paint/stain did you use? Would love tips on your flooring.
Making it Lovely
Yes, it’s painted concrete (Benjamin Moore paint).
Sheila
Looks great. Was wondering if the floor is painted?
kate
Wow! What a transformation. Love the colors.
margaret
Are your floors painted cement? If so, what paint brand were you able to have tinted that great green? I have a cement floor in my laundry room I want to paint tiffany box blue and am worried cement paint can’t be tinted that color.
Making it Lovely
Benjamin Moore can be tinted in any color up to a base 4 (I believe), which is a pretty broad range.
Brandi H.
LOVE!! Makes me want to hurry up and finish mine now! Love the painted floor. Much better than carpet. Will look great with an area rug. Look forward to your play-by-play decorating skills.
ArticulateArt
The basement looks lovely~ The colours turned out quite well!
Camellia
Stunning! That is seriously a fantastic renovation. Job VERY well done! Be sure to post pics when you move your studio down there and put finishing touches on the playroom. Congrats on finishing the hard part.
katiedid
Just fantastic! We added 900 square feet by digging out our basement….so worth it! I can hardly wait to see what you do with the space. the colors are delicious.
Lilly
It’s HUGE!! I can’t wait to see it decorated!!! Post pics please! Though I’m sure you will make it lovely! ha! unintentional pun but so true! xoxo
Michelle
I LOVE that you painted the floors! And green! So amazing.
Mama B
Love your blog and congrats on the great work that you have done to date. I am going through exactly the same thing as you except we are in France! I’m desperate to get one of my rooms finished.
MamaB
X
Glenda
love it so far. can’t wait to see after you’ve decorated! amazing!
Down Comforter
WOWZASSSS! How long did that take to renovate the basement?! It looks remarkable
Making it Lovely
It took FOREVER. (Forever = 5 months. But it felt like a long time.)
alison at refurnished living
Wow – wow – wow. These after pics make me happy- so bright and cheerful. Do you really have windows in your basement?
Making it Lovely
Yes, they’re just above the foundation level. We replaced the original windows with glass block, but the openings were already there.
Agnes
We have a bright light blue door as well and I wish every day that I had painted it that way even sooner it makes our home so happy and fresh.
Kelly
It’s fantasik! So inspiring! Love before and afters! AND love all your color!
Happy Spring!
Debbie
Amazing makeover! Hard to believe it is the same space. I love the fresh colors!
Marcia V. of Precious Style
That has got to be the most cheerful basement I have ever seen, and that’s before decorations. Yep, that’s talent you’ve got there Lady.
Paula/adhocmom
We just bought a house with a finished basement but this kind of makes want to completely do the basement. .
CrystalC2B
I can’t wait to see how you set up the studio in the basement Nicole! Such a lovely space for you and the kiddos.
Denise
me encanto!! aca en Argentina no solemos tener esos espacios.. seria tan lindo!
Hollyp
Fabulous work! Envy of your gorgeous new space has made me as green as the basement floor.
One question I’m hoping you might be able to answer in a future post is how you anticipate controlling the noise level when the kids are in the playroom adn you are working in the studio.
Making it Lovely
Er, I don’t anticipate controlling the noise. I’m just happy to have a space where they kiddos can be near while I’m working.
Carolyn
Wowzers! It doesn’t even look like the same space. How inspiring!
Kim at Yellow Brick Home
Most definitely LOVELY! And the colors are super fun and spunky. Love.
Kellie
It looks amazing!!! I really love the green floors especially the shot of looking down on the stairs. Wonderful!!
luuvely
love the colors…more space!! :)
Erika
Wow! Totally worth the wait, I’m sure.
TeresaFisher
You are so amazing. Your new 600sq’ looks absolutely lovely.
Katie
Oh, it’s looking so beautiful! You must be thrilled at the progress!
Valentina
The basement looks SUPER! Great transformation ;)
Jordan@the2seasons
Looks great and i think the green floors make it. What a fun thing for a basement.
Elle {SWITCHEROOm}
Ohh I love the green floors!
That’s a whole new apartment down your basement! Have fun decorating your new space.
Ashley @ sunnysideshlee.com
Looks great!
M
your blog is so nice dear!!
mribaro
The green stairs are gorgeous, cheerful and inviting! And please do add a hand rail to them for safety (or two handrails – one for grownups and a lower one for the little ones :)). The rest of the basement is heaven – looking forward to seeing it decorated your style.
Allison
Wow! This is just an incredible transformation. Were the windows already there or did you add those? It looks so bright and inviting now!
Making it Lovely
The windows were there already. They’re hard to see in the ‘before’ photos because I took those at night, but they’re there.
Sara Spencer
Your basement looks so fantastic! I really enjoy visiting your blog and seeing the progress. I gain so much inspiration from this and it has me itching to make my own home a lovely spot. =)
Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
WoW! The green floor looks so pretty. It is lovelier than I imagined it could be from the bits and pieces. Fantastic job. I can’t wait to see some “stuff” in it . . .
May
What a lovely transformation! I can’t wait until I get to see how you style the rooms!
Oh! And I think you already have a gorgeous elephant pendant, but I saw this on etsy, thinking it was adorable and thought of your love of elephants! http://www.etsy.com/listing/60129319/flying-elephant-pendant-sterling-silver
Sierra
Oh yay, it looks fantastic Nicole!!
Sari
I stumbled on your blog while looking for design inspiration for our new house. Our house was built in the same era as yours and we have a similar unfinished basement. How did you get the windows down there? And, does it smell “basement-y”?
Making it Lovely
The windows were already in place, we just replaced them with glass block. And no, there’s no musty basement smell (we’re lucky to never have had water issues down there).
Sonja
Congratulations! You did a fabulous job. The space looks great.
Aurelia
The basement looks awesome! Totally transformed! Great job!
Natalie
Wow, that is amazing! Can’t wait to see it all decorated! :)
Emily
Nicole, the basement looks amazing!
Jen @ Rambling Renovators
What a transformation! Well done guys. It is so much more functional, bright, and cheery! I’m totally envious, especially of that playroom. How lucky you are to have a place for the kids to be kids.
Justine @ you're so martha
Love the green floors. Can’t wait to see it decorated!
Lea
This is simply amazing! I don’t comment much but I HAD to commend you on this spectacular transformation! I simply adore the floor color.
Kendra
Nicole! The basement looks amazing! I LOVE the floors. My folks just went through a major renovation, so I have an idea of how awesome it is to see things mostly finished. Congratulations on getting to the fun part!
ohbrooke
Congrats, it looks really amazing. You must be falling in love with your house all over again! {and sidenote: you should have won that Home Depot money, but glad you were able to do the remodel regardless}. Jealous of your adorable new space!
Lizzy
Fantastic! I’m sure you improved the value of your home significantly – in addition to creating wonderful spaces for your family to live.
The Ravenna Girls
This looks so good! Renovating is such hard business, having to live with all that dust and debris – but now comes the fun part. Can’t wait to follow along!
creatissimo
Wow, this looks like a mirakle!! I love it and I love the green color! A perfect creative space! Go, girl!!
Houndstooth and Nail
Its looking really good! I can’t wait for the photos of it all done up! I am so jealous of people with basements, we don’t have them in FL.
jbhat
Holy Macaroni. What an incredible transformation. Hooray for you guys! WOW.
stephanie
Amazing! It looks wonderful.
Diana Smith
I like what you have done so far! The lighting looks great for a basement! Very bright!
Alicia
I’m curious about your floors too? Did you repour, paint and seal? They look great!
Making it Lovely
The floor was ground down in some areas, cracks were repaired, and then the floor was leveled in low spots. Then the whole thing was painted.
Mig
Fantastic space!
Dana @ House*Tweaking
It looks so fun and playful! Love, love, LOVE the painted floors. Can’t wait to follow along as you get to the ‘good stuff.’
amber
wow! it looks amazing!! (& it makes me really sad that i don’t have a basement!!)
Maggie
This is so nicely done, and so cheery! I’m househunting now and have seen more awful basement reno’s than I can count – how refreshing to see a great one!
j9gini
Amazing! Can I ask what the flooring material is? I’m doing basement reno now and it is very similar in layout!
Making it Lovely
Painted concrete.
Mike @HA
It’s looking so good! We’re starting our basement reno next month and it’s such a sigh of relief to see that basements can look great when it’s all done. How do you like the glass block? We’re debating changing our old windows to glass block.
Making it Lovely
I don’t mind it (and I thought I would). The privacy and security is nice, and we still have plenty of light coming through.
Ivana
Magnificent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Caro
This is beautiful! It makes me wish I had a basement because now I see that they don’t always have to be creepy xD
I can’t wait to see the finished result. Knowing you and your sense of style it will be gorgeous!
Danielle
Gorgeous! I am in awe! We have a finished basement in our 1940 bungalow, but it looks nothing like that! I can’t wait to see the end result!
Leigh Anne
So I’ve never posted before but have been reading religiously for a very long time. I totally laughed out loud (literally) when you originally posted about the basement remodel and your planned finish date :)
It looks great and I can’t wait to see it fully operational!
Making it Lovely
Oh, I know. I thought the contractor’s original estimate was a bit optimistic, but I didn’t think it would take THIS long.
Jana
Wow! It looks fab…I know there was a lot more that went into it than just paint, but I am constantly amazed at the transformative power of color!
Judith
I’m so excited to see what it looks like finished. It almost feels like my basement was done over. I’m poor and in college, so I live vicariously through blogs like yours!
Felicity @ Our Little Beehive
It looks lovely! I’m so excited to get started on our basement, but really not looking forward to the mess. We’re going to have to bring everything upstairs…and that’s a lot of stuff!
Making it Lovely
We rented a storage unit for the duration of the remodel. We still ended up with a lot of stuff upstairs though — which really drove me crazy (especially during the nesting phase of my pregnancy).
Joy_UK
Oh WOW that is AMAZING!
You use colour in such a fun and beautiful way. I wish I had the same courage and just went for it LOL I love colour but I am so afraid to use it yet.
Well done it looks wonderful I can’t wait to see it all decorated. :)
Brianna
this looks amazing!
Elizabeth
Holy smokes, it looks fantastic. The color on the floor matches the color of my envy. It doesn’t look like a basement at all. Well done!
Jenny Joy
So pretty! I, too, LOVE the green floor. It absolutely gives me hope that we can actually finish our basement, too.
Lisa
Oh! I think my heart skipped a beat!
MJ @ viva la vida
wow!! now i want a house with a basement!!! it looks amazing!
Carla
I have serious basement envy, no such thing in California, and could I ever use more space. It already looks great, can’t wait to see it all decorated.
Kara
It looks great! I am sooo jealous. The floors look so smooth. Did you have them re-poured or repaired in some way before painting?
Making it Lovely
Yes, they were ground down in spots, repaired, and smoothed out during the remodeling process.
Gina
HURRY AND DECORATE!! We can hardly wait!
Redlilocks {Swoon Worthy}
It looks amazing already and the olives and yellows are two of my favourite colours (and are being worked into my own home’s colour palette)… can’t wait to see what is to come!
Frances Bentley
Oh man, I’ve been so eager for this reveal you’d think it was my basement. Amazing! Love the colors and those stairs are GREAT!!
Alice
I love it! The blue door in your laundry room makes me smile every time – I think I need to paint something around my house soon…
Arin
Lovely!
donaville
phenomenal space! can’t wait to see all your decorating touches.
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